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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	aaron_n	bring_v	egypt_n	37	3	8.4767	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13821	The historie of serpents. Or, The second booke of liuing creatures wherein is contained their diuine, naturall, and morall descriptions, with their liuely figures, names, conditions, kindes and natures of all venemous beasts: with their seuerall poysons and antidotes; their deepe hatred to mankind, and the wonderfull worke of God in their creation, and destruction. Necessary and profitable to all sorts of men: collected out of diuine scriptures, fathers, phylosophers, physitians, and poets: amplified with sundry accidentall histories, hierogliphicks, epigrams, emblems, and ænigmaticall obseruations. By Edvvard Topsell.	Topsell, Edward, 1572-1625?	1608 (1608)	STC 24124; ESTC S122051	444,728	331

into two parts which taile becommeth their hinder Legs wherefore the Aegyptians when they would describe a man that cannot moue himselfe and afterwardes recouereth his motion they decypher him by a frog hauing his hinder legges The heads of these young Gyrini which we call in English Horse-nailes because they resemble a Horse-naile in their similitude whose head is great and the other part small for with his taile he swimmeth After May they grow to haue feete and if before that time they bee taken out of the water they dye then they beginne to haue foure feete And first of all they are of a blacke colour and round and heereof came the Prouetbe Rana Gyrina sapientior wiser then a Horse-naile because through the roudndnesse and rolubility of his body it turneth it selfe with wonderfull celerity which way soeuer it pleaseth These young ones are also called by the Graecians Moluridae Brutichoi and Batrachida but the Latines haue no name for it except Ranunculus or Rana Nascens And it is to be remembred that one frogge layeth an innumerable company of Egges which cleaue together in the water in the middle whereof she her selfe lodgeth And thus much may suffice for the ordinary procreation of frogges by generation out of Egges In the next place I must also shew how they are likewise ingendered out of the dust of the earth by warme aestiue and Summer shevvers whose life is short and there is no vse of them Aelianus saith that as he trauailed out of Italy into Naples he saw diuers frogges by the way neere Putoli whose forepart and head did mooue and creepe but their hinder part was vnformed and like to the slyme of the earth which caused Ouid to write thus Semina limus habet virides generantia Ranas Et generat truncas pedibus eodem corpore saepe Altera pars viuit rudis est pars altera tellus That is to say Durt hath his seede ingendring Frogs full greene Yet so as feetlesse without Legs on earth they lye So as a wonder vnto Passengers is seene One part hath life the other earth full dead is nye And of these Frogs it is that Pliny was to be vnderstood when he saith that Frogs in the Winter time are resolued into slyme and in the Summer they recouer their life and substaunce againe It is certaine also that sometime it raineth frogs as may appeare by Philarchus and Lembus for Lembus writeth thus Once about Dardania and Paeonia it rained frogs in such plentifull measure or rather prodigious manner that all the houses and high-waies were filled with them and the inhabitants did first of all kill them but afterwards perceiuing no benifit thereby they shut their doores against them and stopped vp all their lights to exclude thē out of their houses leauing no passage open so much as a frog might creepe into and yet notwithstanding all this diligence their meat seething on the fire or set on the table could not be free from thē but continually they found frogs in it so as at last they were inforced to forsake that Countrey It was likewise reported that certaine Indians people of Arabia were inforced to forsake their countries through the multitude of frogs Cardan seemeth to find a reason in nature for this raining of frogges the which for the better satisfaction of the Reader I will here expresse as followeth Fiunt haec omnia ventorum ira and so forward in his 16. booke De subtilitate that is to say these prodigious raines of frogs and Mice little Fishes and stones and such like thinges is not to be wondered at for it commeth to passe by the rage of the winds in the tops of the Mountaines or the vppermost part of the Seas which many times taketh vp the dust of the earth congealeth them into stones in the ayre which afterwards fall downe in raine so also doth it take vp frogs and fishes who beeing aboue in theayre must needes fall downe againe Sometimes also it taketh vp the egges of frogs and fishes which beeing kept aloft in the ayre among the Whirle-windes and stormes of shewers doe there engender and bring forth young ones which afterwards fall downe vpon the earth there being no poole for them in the ayre These and such like reasons are approued among the learned for naturall causes of the prodigious raining of frogs But we read in holy Scripture among the plagues of Aegypt that frogges were sent by GOD to annoy them and therefore whatsoeuer is the materiall cause it is most certaine that the wrath of GOD and his almighty hand is the making or efficient cause and for the worthinesse of that deuine story how God maketh and taketh away frogs I will expresse it as it is left by the Holy-ghost in Cap. 8. Exod. verse 5. Also the Lord saide vnto Moses say thou vnto Aaron stretch out thy hand with thy rodde vpon the streames vpon the Riuers and vpon the ponds and cause frogs to come vpon the land of Egypt ver 6. Then Aaron stretched out his hand vpon the waters of Egypt and the frogs came vp couered the land of Egypt verse 7. And the Sorcerers did likewise with their Sorceries and brought frogs vp vpon the land of Aegypt Verse 8. Then Pharao called for Moses Aaron and said pray ye vnto the Lord that he may take away the frogs from mee and from my people and I will let the people goe that they may doe sacrifice to the Lord verse 9. And Moses saide vnto Pharao concerning me commaund when I shall pray for thee and thy seruants and for thy people to destroy the frogges from thee and from thy houses that they may remaine in the Riuer onely verse 10. Then he said tomorrow he answered be it as thou hast said that thou mayst know that there is none like the Lord our GOD. verse 11. So the frogges shall depart from thee and from thy houses from thy people and from thy Seruants onely they shall remaine in the Riuer verse 12. Then Moses Aaron went out from Pharao Moses cryed vnto the Lord concerning the frogs which he had sent vnto Pharao ver 13. And the Lord did according to the saying of Moses so the frogs dyed in the houses and in the Townes and in the fieldes ver 14. And they gathered them together by heapes and the land stanke of them c. And this was the second plague of Aegypt wherein the Lord turned all the fishes into Frogges as the booke of wisedome saith and the Frogs abounded in the Kinges chamber and notwithstanding this great iudgement of God for the present Pharao would not let the people goe and afterwardes that blind superstitious Nation became worshippers of Frogges as Philastrias writeth thinking by this deuotion or rather wickodnesse in this obseruant manner to pacifie the wrath of God choosing their owne wayes before the word of Almighty God But vain is that worship which is inuented without

reason whereof they can receiue no poyson from them The poyson of Aspes saith Moses Deut. 32. is crudele venenum a cruell poyson and Iob. 20. Cap. expressing the wicked mans delight in euill sayth That he shall sucke the poison of Aspes For which cause as we haue shewed already the harme of this is not easily cured VVe read that Canopus the Maister of Menelaus ship to bee bitten to death by an Aspe at Canopus in Egypt So also was Demetrius Phalareus a Scholler of Theophrastus keeper of the famous library of Ptolomaeus Soter Cleopatra likewise to auoyde the tryumph that Augustus would haue made of her suffered her selfe willingly to bee bitten to death by an Aspe VVhereupon Properitius writeth thus Brachia spect aui sacris admorsa colubris Et trachere occultum membra soporis iter In English thus Thus I haue seene those wounded armes VVith sacred Snakes bitten deepe And members draw their poysoned harmes Treading the way of deaths sound sleepe We read also of certaine Mountebankes and cunning Iuglers in Italy called Circulatores to perish by their owne deuises thorough the eating of Serpents and Aspes which they carried about in Boxes as tame vsing them for ostentation to get Money or to sell away their antidotes When pompeius Rufus was the great Maister of the Temple-works at Rome there was a certaine circulator or Quacksaluer to shew his great cunning in the presence of many other of his owne trade which set to his arme an Aspe presently he sucked out the poyson out of the wound with his mouth but when he came to looke for his preseruatiue water or antidote he could not finde it by meanes whereof the poyson fell dovvne into his body his mouth and gummes rotted presently by little and little and so vvithin two dayes he was found dead The like story vnto this is related by Amb Paraeus of another vvhich at Florence vvould faine sell much of his medicine against poyson and for that purpose suffered an aspe to bite his flesh or finger but vvithin foure houres after he perished notwithstanding all his antidoticall preseruatiues Now therefore it remaineth that wee adde in the conclusion of this history a particuler discourse of the bytings and venom of this serpent and also of such remedies as are appointed for the same Therefore we are to consider that they byte and doe not sting the femalls byte with foure teeth the males but with two and when they haue opened the flesh by byting then they infuse their poyson into the wound Onely the Aspe Ptyas killeth by spetting venom thorough her teeth and as Auicen saith the sauour or smell therof will kill but at the least the touching infecteth mortally When an Aspe hath bitten it is a very difficult thing to espie the place bitten or wounded euē with most excellent eyes as was apparent vppon Cleopatra aforesayd and the reason hereof is giuen to be this because the poyson of Aspes is very sharpe and penetrateth suddenly and forcibly vnder the skinne euen to the inmost parts not staying outwardly or making any great visible externall appearante Yet Gallen writing to Piso affirmeth otherwise of the wound of Cleopatra but because drowsinesse and sleepe followeth that poyson I rather beleeue the former opinion and therefore Lucan calleth the Aspe Somnifera that is a sleepe-bringing serpent And Pictorius also subscribeth herevnto Aspidis et morsu laesum dormire fatentur In mortem antidotum nec valuisse ferunt Which may be englished thus Hee that by rage of Aspes tooth is bitten or is wounded They say doth sleepe vntill his death curelesse he is confounded The pricks of the Aspes teeth are in apparance not much greater then the prickings of a needle without all swelling and very little blood issueth forth and that is black in colour straight way the eyes grow darke heauy and a manifold paine ariseth all ouer the body yet such as is mixed with some sence of pleasure which caused Nicander to cry out perimitque virum absque dolore it kills a man without paine His colour is all changed appeareth greenish like grasse His face or forehead is bent continually frowning and his eyes or eye-liddes moouing vp and downe in drowsines without sence according to these verses following Nec tamen vlla vides impressi vlnera morsus Nec dignus fatu tumor ictum corpus adurit Sed qui laesus homo est citra omnem fata dolorem Claudit ignano moriens torpore fatiscit Which I translate thus Wounds of impressed teeth none canst thou see Nor tumour worth the naming smitten body burning But yet the hurt man painlesse taketh destiny And sleeping dyeth sluggishly him turning The true signes then of an Aspes biting is stupour or astonishment heauinesse of the head and slothfulnes wrinking the forehead often gaping and gnawing and nodding bending the necke and convulsion but those which are hurt by the Ptyas haue blindnes paine at the hart deafenesse and swelling of the face And the signes of such as are hurt by the Chalidonian or Chersaean Aspe the Terrestrian are all one or of very little difference except that I may adde the Crampe and the often beating of the pulse frigiditie of the members or parts or paine in the stomack but all of them in generall deepe sleepe and sometimes vomitting But by this that the blood of the place by thē bitten turneth black it is apparant and manifest that the poyson of the Aspe mortifieth or killeth the naturall heate which is ouercome by the heate of the poyson outwardly the darknes or blindnesse of the eyes proceedeth of certaine vapours which are infected and ascend vp to the disturbance of the braine and when the humours are troubled in the stomacke then followeth vomiting or else the crampe and sometimes a loosnesse when the knuckles are drawen in by the venomous byting or the infected humours falling downe into the intrals To conclude so great is the tabificall effect of this poyson of Aspes that it is worthily accounted the greatest venom and most dangerous of all other for Aelianus sayth Serpentum venenum cum pestiferum sit tum multò aspidis pestilentius the poyson of all serpents is pestiferous but the venom of the aspe most of all For if it touch a greene wound it killeth speedily but an old wound receiueth harme thereby more hardly In Alexandria when they would put a man to a sudden death they would set an aspe to his bosome or breast and then after the wound or byting bid the partie walke vp and downe and so immediatly within two or three turnes hee would fall downe dead Yet it is reported by Pliny that the poyson of Aspes drunke into the body doth no harme at all yet if a man eate of the flesh of any beast slaine by an Aspe he dyeth immediatly But concerning the cure of such as haue beene or may be hurt by Aspes I will nowe

making their thighes more visible It is som-what questionable whether they lye hid within their caues 4. months or 60. daies for some Authors affirme one thing some another but the reason of the difference is taken from the condition of the cold weather for which cause they lye hid in the winter-time Now forasmuch as the winter in Egypt is not vsually aboue foure months therfore it is taken that they lye but foure months but if it be by accidēt of cold wether prolonged longer thē for the same cause the crocodile is the longer time in the earth During the time they lye hid they eate nothing but sleepe as it is thought immoueably when they come out againe they do not cast their skinnes as other Serpents doe The tayle of a Crocodile is his strongest part and they neuer kill any beast or man but first of all they strike him downe and astonish him with their tailes and for this cause the Egyptians by a Crocodiles tayle doe signifie death darknes They deuoure both men and beasts if they find them in theyr way or neere the bankes of Nilus wherein they abide taking sometimes a calfe from the cow his damme and carrying it whole into the waters And it appeareth by the portraiture of Nealces that a Crocodile drew in an Asse into Nilus as he was drinking and therefore the dogges of Egypt by a kind of naturall instinct do not drinke but as they runne for feare of the Crocodiles wherevpon came the prouerbe Vt canis é Nilo bibit fugit as a dogge at one time drinketh and runneth by Nilus When they desire fishes they put their heads out of the water as it were to sleepe and then suddenly when they espy a booty they leape into the waters vppon them and take them After that they haue eaten and are satisfied then they turne to the land againe and as they lye gaping vpon the earth the little bird Trochilus maketh cleane their teeth and is satisfied by the remainders of the flesh sticking vppon them It is also affirmed by Arnoldus that it is fedde with mud but the holy Crocodile in the Prouince of Arsinoe is fedde with bread flesh wine sweet and hard sodde flesh and cakes and such like thinges as the poore people bring vnto it when they come to see it VVhen the Egyptians will write a man eating or at dinner they paynt a Crocodile gaping They are exceeding fruitefull and prolificall and therfore also in Hieroglyphicks they are made to signifie fruitfulnes They bring forth euery yeere and lay their egges in the earth or dry land For during the space of three-score dayes they lay euery day an egge within the like space they are hatched into young ones by sitting or lying vpon them by course the male one while the female another The time of their hatching is in a moderate and temperate time otherwise they perrish and come to nothing for extremity of heate spoyleth the egge as the buds of some trees are burned and scorched off by the like occasion The egge is not much greater then the egge of a Goose and the young one out of the shell is of the same proportion And so from such a small beginning doth this huge and monstrous Serpent grow to his great stature the reason whereof saith Aristotle is because it groweth all his life long euen to the length of ten or moe cubits When it hath layd the egges it carryeth them to the place where they shall be hatched for by a naturall prouidence and fore-sight it auoydeth the waters of Nilus and therefore euer layeth her egges beyond the compasse of her floods by obseruation whereof the people of Egypt know euery yeere the inundation of Nilus before it happen And in the measure of this place it is apparent that this beast is not indued onely with a spirit of reason but also with a fatidicall or propheticall geographicall delineation for so shee placeth her egges in the brimme or banke of the flood before the flood commeth that the water may couer the nest but not herselfe that sitteth vpon the egges And the like to this is the building of the Beauer as we haue shewed in due place before in the History of Foure-footed beastes So soone as the young ones are hatched they instantly fall into the depth of the vvater but if they meete with frogge snayle or any other such thing fit for their meate they doe presently teare it in peeces the damme byteth it with her mouth as it were punishing the pusillanimity thereof but if it hunt greater things and be greedy rauening industrious and bloody that she maketh much of and killing the other nourisheth and tendereth this aboue measure after the example of the wisest men who loue their childrē in iudgement fore-seeing their industrious inclination and not in affection without regard of worth vertue or merrit It is said by Philes that after the egge is layd by the Crocodile many times there is a cruell stinging Scorpion which commeth out thereof and woundeth the Crocodile that layde it To conclude they neuer prosper but neere the waters and they liue threescore yeeres or the age of a mans life The nature of this beast is to be fearefull rauening malitious and trecherous in getting of his prey the subtiltie of whose spirit is by some attributed to the thinnesse of his blood and by other to the hardnes of his skin and hide How it dealeth with her young ones we haue shewed already as it were trying their nature whether they will degenerate or no and the like things are reported of the Aspes Cancers Torteyses of Egypt From hence came the conceit of Pietas Crocodili the pietie of the Crocodile But as we haue said it is a fearefull Serpent abhorring all manner of noyse especially from the strained voyce of a man and where hee findeth himselfe valiantly assaulted there also hee is discouraged and therefore Marcellinus saith of him Audax Monstrum fugacibus at vbi audacem senserit timidissimum An audacious Monster to them that runne away but most fearefull where he findeth resistance Some haue written that the Crocodile runneth away from a man if he winke with his left eye and looke stedfastly vppon him with his right eye but if this bee true it is not to be attributed to the vertue of the right eye but onely to the rarenesse of sight vvhich is conspicuous to the Serpent from one eye The greatest terrour vnto Crocodiles as both Seneca and Pliny affirme are the inhabitants of the Ile Tentyrus within Nilus for those people make them runne away with their voyces and many times pursue and take them in snares Of these people speaketh Solinus in this manner There is a generation of men in the Ile Tentyrus within the waters of Nilus which are of a most aduerse nature to the Crocodile dwelling also in the same place And although their persons